GREEN AND GOLD: BUSINESS MEETS NATURE AT IQ CAMBRIDGE

One of Cambridgeshire’s most successful examples of environmentally conscious commercial developments is to be found at IQ Cambridge, a 112 acre business park which incorporates a 32 acre nature reserve combining a wild life lake, willow wood and open grassland areas.

In an age when the sustainability of the environment is a key issue, the park is a model of how it can be achieved: indeed, the SEGRO Protocol (named after the developers) has been officially adopted and promulgated as a template for new commercial development.

Central to the strategy at IQ Cambridge has been the regeneration of the landscape, much of which was originally a brownfield site, which had served variously as gravel extraction pits, a landfill site and a caravan park.

Primary landscaping – for which a budget of £1.5 million was allocated, independent of general engineering works – involved the remodelling of the lakes (a legacy of gravel extraction) as the central aesthetic feature of the site, and the transforming of the landfill area to the west of the site into a fully fledged nature reserve.

The natural habitat of Golden Oriels and Great Crested Newts, the wildlife park has not only been preserved intact, but is the subject of an on-going ecological maintenance programme. The developers’ long-term objective is to recreate, in miniature, the original fenland environment, replete with reed beds, open water and wet woodlands.

Maintained by Acer Landscapes, who have recently installed gravel pathways, gates, fences and explanatory signage along the recommended visitors’ route, the reserve has a purpose-built bird watchers hide overlooking the main lake, and is also open to anglers, photographers, and visiting school parties by arrangement.

Back to News Articles